TELEVISION AND THE AGENCY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP77-00389R000100400003-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 12, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 20, 2002
• Sequence Number: 3
• Publication Date: July 19, 1973
• Content Type: MF

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MEMORANDUM FOR: Deputy Director for Management and Services
SUBJECT Television and the Agency
1. This does not pretend to be a paper that is formal, official,
fully staffed or coordinated in detail. It responds to recent memos
from OTR and MAG concerning television (TABS C and D).
2. Those papers talked of the need for centralized Agency
consideration of certain aspects of TV and the MAG paper, noted by Mr.
Colby, was sent to the DDM&S for comments.
3. As a result, an ad hoc group got together on 2 Jul to exchange
views and data. The group included representatives from CRS, NPIC, 25X1A
OTS, OTR, OJCS and COMMO. The same offices, plus OS, were represented at
a follow-up meeting on 16 July, called to seek agreement on means to address
the concerns expressed in the MAG paper, which saw the need for a focal-
point in the Agency to deal with a burgeoning and unorchestrated invest-
ment in video equipment and facilities. The conclusions of this meeting
are incorporated in the suggestions at the end of this paper. No attempt
has been made, however, to obtain full agreement on'all that is said here.
This paper is intended as a think-piece designed to show that the role of
video in the Agency is a potentially rich one and could have impact far
greater than generally suspected now. (For details concerning current
video activities in the Agency, minutes of the 2 July meeting of the ad
hoc group are attached at TAB A.)
4. Though the emphasis in the MAG paper was on the need for coordina-
ting equipment procurement and facilities investment, one is struck by the
dimensions of the video topic that go far beyond this legitimate but narrow
concern.
5. Video can be of importance to collection.~has begun to broade~5X1A
its collection of open-source foreign TV broadcast ng an to experiment
with ways to exploit such broadcasting for intelligence purposes. (This,
incidentally, is much easier said than done.) One can foresee a time when
DDO reporting from abroad may lean heavily on real-time video and audio
transmissions to headquarters along lines similar to those of current
American news networks.
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6. Such collection will doubtless be of importance to future
intelligence production. Future production is sure to involve more
than mere printed text. Multi-media presentations, or at least the
options for them, should be part of the production inventory. The
material collected will permit of this; prime consumers of the future
are likely to be more at home with a product in visible, audible, not
necessarily legible, forms.
7. The collection and production of video materials will require
sophisticated storage a.nd retrieval systems to permit orderly filing and
quick recall for analytical research and production. Current arrangements
for analytical review of available video data require disruption of the
analytical processes (one must go to a centralized viewing area in CRS to
see what is available) and this in time must change. The video format, in
the future, is best considered as ,just one more form of source material to
be made directly available to analytic work areas.
8. Television is on its way to becoming a major vehicle for training
purposes. Agency-produced or externally-prepared films can be made
available to individuals or groups in Agency components here or abroad.
The preparation and extension of such training films can be of very high
value; it is a special art-form requiring special skills and expertise.
9. Video is in use by Security and the DDO for surveillance purposes.
Video would appear to be a natural for such purposes and its use in this
regard seems likely to grow (though the ad hoc group did not delve into
this aspect in detail).
10. Television is apt to play an increasingly important role in
management and in communications between working levels. Video taping
of policy guidance and direction from top levels can complement printed
notices or relaying (with inevitable distortion) from one level to
another. Similarly, guidance and word to field units can be effectively
transmitted by video (either in real time by broadcast or via pouch by
tape).
11. There are, of course, major practical problems standing in the
way of this description of what our future might be with regard to video:
- There is no Agency policy guidance or statement of
objectives concerning television and its future in
the Agency.
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- Major dollar resource investment will be required, though
no one right now has a clue on what the order of magnitude
would be.
Personnel skills are not now with us to accomplish such
tasks. The absence of skills is particularly real in the
intelligence production area but the absence is apparent
in other areas as well. The ad hoc group was impressed
by the "ad-hockery" of most personnel assignments in the
video field. There has been little specialized training
or recruitment of special qualifications.
We need better planning and coordination of proposals for
investment in equipment (as the MA.G paper points out).
One particular issue in need of resolution is how to plan
for centralized laboratories and facilities for the
production of video films and tapes. Should there be one
centralized facility or a series of them in support of
special tasks?
- There is the problem of assessing the future impact of
video on the Office of Communications.
- Video materials and equipment may have security vulner-
abilities (e. g., emanations; controls of tapes). This
needs study so that R&D might be devoted to fixes or so
that risks might otherwise be reduced.
12. What this boils dawn to then is the need for a determination of
Agency objectives with regard to video employment and for detailed
follow-up by planning officers and action units.
13. At the risk of gratuitous lecturing, this paper suggests that
Agency management should start by encouraging the growth of wise
applications of video technology to intelligence processes. At present,
video usage is so fragmented that this usage and its potential could be
damaged by demanding that each component justify its current activities.
Few are based on compelling requirements now, but taken as a whole they
constitute a useful nucleus around which to plan the control of future
growth.
14. No one Agency component now can usefully be selected as the
Management Committee's action arm to track progress on whatever plans
and objectives are blessed by the Committee. Among possibilities as
staffs to do the planning and the tracking are:
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a) a group made up of all the directorate planning officers;
or
b) the Information Processing Board.
15. Whatever machinery is selected, sub-groups made up of represent-
atives of components engaged in video activities could provide support
and technical input. The participants in the 2 July and 16 July meetings
saw the need for three such sub-groups:
a) a technical working group to steer equipment procurement
along compatible lines
b) a production working group to seek optimum joint use of
studio facilities, and
c) a "library" working group to tackle the storage/retrieval
and dissemination problems of videotape activities.
OTR, and CRS were agreed upon as the logical offices, respectively,
or organizing the three working groups. These groups could be set up and
begin coordinating work pending a decision on the broader planning body to
which they would report.
16. Whatever machinery is selected, there is a need to think of the
task now as a systematic planning exercise. The purpose is to come up with
plans, objectives, timetables, scenarios and options...and, above all,
encouragement of the fullest possible consideration of video as a creative
tool for intelligence use.
Attachments:
TAB A: Minutes of Agency-Wide Meeting on Coordination of TV Activities,
2 Jul 73
TAB B: Minutes of Follow-up Meeting on 16 Jul 73
TAB C: Memo for DDM&S from D/Training, Subj: Control of Television
Services, 27 Apr 73
TAB D: Memo for Executive Secretary, CIA Management Committee from
Management Advisory Group, Subj: Coordination of Agency Video
Programs, 19 Jun 73
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